pyro's
adventures begin in the Artisans world, and it's all relatively easy compared
to what he'll face later on. Most of the gnorcs he'll encounter here will
flee from him, or at least won't put up a very good fight. Take your time
in Artisans, though, and master all the skills you'll need later on. Time
spent practicing flying, running, flaming and jumping in Artisans will
pay off quite a bit when Spyro doesn't have some tough boss from a later
level trying to squash him flat!

1) The monsters
here are mostly harmless. Just stay back and keep on breathing fire at
them. (And scroll down the page for a tip specific to the Dobermans you
encounter at the of Artisans'.)

2) At the Artisans'
home world waterfall, jump onto all the stones, in any order, and
you'll discover the first of the "bonus" gliding courses. I
put "bonus" in quotes because you won't be allowed into Gnasty's
treasure room until you've completed all of them. The good news is that
you'll be a superlative flyer once you're done.

3) Can't find the
golden key and the rest of the gems in Stone Hill? I couldn't either.
Go through the castle and in the courtyard on the far side, overlooking
the sea, where your return home transporter is, look to the left. There's
a spray of magical sparks coming up. They're NOT from the dragon's platform,
although I thought they were. Jump into that stream (Carefully! You don't
want to soar out to sea and drown!) and ride it down to the beach and
hidden sea cave, where the key and most of the gems are. The key unlocks
the chest at the bottom of the well, and that'll give you all the treasure
(assuming you found the gems in the hills surrounding Stone Hill). Listen
to the seagulls as you soar downward. That sort of detail is an example
of why Stone Hill is my favorite level in the game.

4) When in Town
Square, kill the bullfighter gnorc first. If you kill the bull instead,
you'll get stabbed by the gnorc for your trouble, whereas the bull is
slow-moving enough to also take out if you blast the gnorc while he's
fleeing his pursuer.

5) Also in Town
Square, when you think you're stuck - you can see the last frozen
dragon, but can't get to him, go to the platform by the chickens. Jump
off it, soaring down into the courtyard below, hugging the building on
the right. Done right, you should land on a platform that'll let you hop
up onto the upper area where the Thief, lots of treasure, a bull and the
frozen dragon all are.

6) And while in Town
Square, Rowena suggests trying to headbutt the bulls for a laugh.

7) A definite "don't
miss" on any dragon's list is Dark Hollow. In addition to
the frogs - one of the cutests of the wildlife Spyro encounters, and tasty!
- there's loads of stuff to set on fire in the world. Don't hold back
on the flames: Shed a little light on the situation, OK? And headbutt
the lamps to see and hear another neat detail the programmers inserted
into the game.

8) William writes
in with this way to take out the Dobermans Toasty has guarding
him: "Walk up to one, flame it, then immediately press jump (without
moving forward or in any other direction) and flame again while you're
in the air. The doberman will take his second hit before he's had a chance
to complete his leap."